Tuesday, September 04, 2012

oh my darling muscadine

There was a fine drizzle of rain as we walked down the dirt road that runs in front of our house, looking for the muscadines that grow wild this time of year.

The vines were tangled high in the evergreen trees, we stood up on our tiptoes to grab handfuls, tumbling them into our basket. Their colors vary from nearly black to the prettiest shade of purple I've ever seen.

Muscadines are so fragrant, deep and rich, vaguely winey. I brought them inside, cut them open, and set them to simmer down into a syrup, the scent filling the house, lingering in every corner.

My mom has been telling me about her grandmothers muscadine jelly since I was a little girl. She waxes poetic about the sweet stuff, but I never had the chance to meet my great-grandmother, or taste her jelly. As I was standing over the bubbling pot, I felt connected to this woman I never met. It's funny (and wonderful) how food can do that.

I didn't have quite enough juice to make jelly, so I decided on a syrup, ruby red & sweet. It'd be great over biscuits or pancakes, even ice cream. I stirred a spoonful into a cup of hot black tea. Next time I'm going to turn it into muscadine sorbet.

Muscadine Syrup

1 cup muscadine juice*
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice

To release the juice, cut open your muscadines and place in a stock pot. Fill pot with water, just covering the muscadines. Simmer for 15 minutes, mashing occasionally with a potato masher. Pour fruit through a mesh strainer, pressing hard on the solids, (I then placed the skins in a lemon juicer, to extract as much juice as possible), into another stock pot. Add sugar and lemon juice, and bring the juice to a boil, then allow to simmer. Cook until it coats the back of a spoon. Pour into clean jar. Can be kept in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

*You want equal parts juice & sugar. If you have more/less juice, just add the same amount of sugar. I started with about 4 cups of muscadines and got 1 cup of juice.

Just beautiful and I love your basket. I made homemade grape jelly last year for the first time, and I'm hoping to get lucky again this year, but I've yet to find more than a small gathering of wild grapes...

Hi, I just recently discovered your blog and I am in awe. All of your photography and styling are simply beautiful. I love this post. I too have never heard of muscadines, but the color is amazing and I want to try this syrup!

I grew up eating muscadines & their Wonka-esque named cousin the scuppernog off the vine...they are so much better than grapes to me...the tart skin bursting with the sweet insides & spitting out the seeds...I love it all! This syrup would make an awesomely southern addition to the 2nd fermentation of my kombucha...

Your blog is so beautiful, truly an inspiration. I love this post about finding unusual, local delicacies and creating heaven from them. I recently discovered we have Elderflower growing on our land and am looking forward to learning to make syrup from the flowers next year when they come back into bloom. Elderflower goes beautifully with gooseberries for jam. Thank you.

My husband picked some about a month ago and I juiced them....so good! I saved a few seeds to plant some at our house---though from experience in the wild, they do get out of hand here in Texas. A great native!

I have never heard of those grapes either but the jam looks super yummy! You're a great photographer!

I have been following your blog for a while now, but just recently decided to start one myself and comment :) I just wanted to let you know that I really like yours, all your recipes look scrumptious :)

Hello Hannah, just to say I love your blog. Your pictures are amazing. It's very inspirational for me. I live in France and commute every day to work in Paris and I appreciate the quietness of your environnment.

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I've never heard of these grapes before and they look gorgeous! I love your posts and I always feel like you're living some magical life in the woods. The light, the colours and the care in everything you do is pretty special.

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